A Nook Tablet, 3D from HP and Google+ Pages in the Ranting Roundup

In Monday’s Ranting Roundup of the day’s tech news, inexpensive new tablets are stacking up like old HTML manuals…

The latest gladiator in the tablet wars is essentially the first inexpensive tablet we ever saw, but now Barnes and Noble is making it official. No more rooting the Nook Color and side-loading Android on to it to create a Frankenstinian e-reader/tablet hybrid.

Instead $250 gets you a new Nook Tablet with hardware that outmuscles the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Nook Color gets a price cut to $199. The old school Nook e-ink reader now matches the price of an e-ink Kindle, but without ads. Now the real challenge is finding a well-lit alley for these two backlight-lacking devices to battle it out in.

More budget high-tech gear from HP, which continues to put out new PCs while it is allegedly trying to quit putting out new PCs. Somebody get these guys a new 12-step program, please?

Tomorrow a new $300 3D monitor goes on sale from HP, and next week it’s a full-blown 3D desktop PC–the TouchSmart 620 3D. It comes with some pretty meaty specs and a screen that can tilt until nearly flat for stand-up computing or use as a nifty interactive coaster. If this 3D trend continues, I’m betting it won’t be long until we start to see 3D objects not just on screens, but in the real world, too.

And finally, the wait is over – Google has thrown open the doors to Google+ with the creation of Pages, allowing brands, businesses, places and various Occupy demonstrations to have their own presence on the burgeoning social network. Let the lame, spammy promotions begin! Yes, I will Plus One your crappy app’s page for a chance to win Miranda Lambert concert tickets!

That’s all for today, I’ve gotta go get busy building a Google+ page for the Ranting Roundup! Meanwhile, check out the video from Google on Pages below:

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About Eric Mack

Eric Mack has been writing about technology and the world since the late 1990's. He also contributes to CNET, Gizmag and Crowdsourcing.org. While he refuses to wear tie-dye, he still considers himself to be at least marginally groovy. Follow him @ericcmack on Twitter.

I don’t believe millions will buy this particular Nook Tablet as launched today at this price with these specs. Wait till the next generation : )

So, Eric, when you say the new Nook Tablet is the cheapest, is it in the context that the Amazon is going to cost way more to really get into that ecosystem over the long term? That IS true. You know what I mean?